If men have more physical strength — as the Pentagon, upholding restrictions on women in combat, says — why is it women who are always carrying bags? Men have basic daily life set up so they have pockets and they only carry around what fits in the pockets. (Sure, sometimes that looks ridiculous, but not any more ridiculous than that woman at the first link.)

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In Africa, the women carry the packages so that the men can be free to fight off wild animals and deal with other threats. Or so they say. Even in the big cities, the men walk and the women carry. Balancing it on their heads.

More and more, men carry bags as well. I often carry a laptop bag, which is for all intents and purposes, a purse.

Fashion has a lot to do with it. Women tend to wear dresses, and tighter fitted clothes, in which keys and wallets would leave unsightly bulges. And (many) women carry around makeup, which takes up more room than you can comfortably store in a pocket.

They will wear the most uncomfortable looking clothes because some designer told them it looks good.

In many cases, these designers are male. And many of them seem to be gay (NTTAWWT). I would think that a gay male would not know what was comfortable for a woman (because he is male) and would not care very much (because he is gay)

How long do those women stand in one place with their heavy handbags? The Israeli army (IDF) found that women were suffering stress fractures not only in combat situations but while on guard duty, that is to say merely standing for significant lengths of time with heavy equipment.

She said literally! If the bag holds literally everything, she doesn't need to go meet her friend for lunch. Her friend, and the lunch, are already inside the bag. On the other hand, how would she ever find them, in amid literally everything? What happens when she takes literally everything out?

Recently I was walking from work to my car to go home. A woman, age 30 to 35, I work with was leaving at the same time. She had 4 bags, a backpack, workout bag (we have exercise facilities at work), a lunch bag, and her purse. Not that unusual for the younger half of the women I work with.

I just keep everything in my pockets (keys, Swiss Army knife - a gift from OJ, cell phones, wallet and checkbook, pen, Carmex, cash, small notepad, digital sound recording device, small camera, toothbrush and small tube of toothpaste, comb, 5 hour energy drink, aspirin, survival kit, cigarette lighter and a few other odds and ends. ). During the winter, I keep my gloves and knit cap in my jacket pockets.

I'm 60 years old and I carry around an O'Neill surfer backpack. It carries all my important shit; books to read for downtown time in offices, airports, the DMV, etc. Extra shirt since I tnd to wear my food. Music pods, cameras, and all sorts of sundry and other stuffs. Extra Sex Wax for my surfboard (tropical and cold water blends, baggies (surf trunks), and a rash guard. My medical and pill compartment (being old an all). My girlfriend calls it my purse. She's right of course but it goes so much further....

I have a purse that is a wallet with a strap plus a pocket for a cell phone that I use for reading glasses. My cell phone is in a pocket. I carry my wallet/ purse inside my backpack most of the time. So, bags inside of bags.

Women's clothes (for the most part, and especially white-collar work attire) do not have pockets. Once you have accepted the idea that you need something (a bag) to carry wallet and and coinpurse and keys and cellphone and glasses and a pen (these are the things men carry in pockets) then it's a short step to making the bag big enough to carry other things.

LOL. Women carry our these huge bags because they're OCD. How many men are engaged in heavy lifting occupations like furniture moving, delivering appliances, mining, construction? You will never see a female on a construction site. Also when it comes to raw physical strength, the average woman can't lift as much weight nor for as many repetitions as the average male.

That's simply human evolution. The males were stronger for the hunt and carving up the carcass and the females gathered nuts & berries and cooked the chunks of meat.

I have a large bag that I carry my own things and my kids' things in. They call it the great big bag of everything. It is less than 1/3 the size of the monstrosity that woman was carrying. That said, I use my bag to carry my wallet, cell phone, keys to work and personal keys, lunch, an umbrella all of the time. I usually have a book (or two) and bunch of stuff for distracting my 5 year old as well. Why do I carry all of this? Because my life is easier with the stuff than without it. My husband uses a backpack to carry many of the same things, but not the kids' toys. He has said there are times he regrets that.